BOOK REVIEW BY WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT OF "LADY ALMINA AND THE REAL DOWNTON ABBEY"
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey By Fiona Carnarvon Hodder & Stoughton (2011) A REVIEW OF THE ABOVE BOOK BY WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT We should know our betters : know that the toffs will not ever be transparent. They will only tell you what they want you to know and to minimise the scandal they will painfully minimise the accuracy. The book does have an attractive front cover but it’s the content that counts. It’s all another instance of Herbert history repeating itself. There is already a less than honourable pile up of Carnarvon-family scribes who put their heavy-handed gloss on the accuracy regarding past members of the clan. Elsie, the second 4th Countess of Carnarvon, rigorously controlled and censored the posthumous biography of Henry, the 4th Earl of Carnarvon, a notable Victorian politician ...